Birthday Surprises
by L'Ecrivaine
Summary: Daniel surprises Betty for her birthday.


A/N: Hi everyone! This is my offering for the Betty in June challenge. I had a bit of trouble coming up with something to write about, but this idea popped into my head after watching the Season 2 episode "Twenty-Four Candles". I wasn't very happy with the whole Daniel forgetting Betty's birthday resolution, so this is my way of making up for that. I hope it's good! This can also be seen as being in the same universe as my previous story, "Taking the Leap," but this is largely a standalone piece. Hope you like it!

**Birthday Surprises**

"Come on, Betty, keep your eyes closed!" Daniel admonished, making sure his hands were covering her eyes as he walked behind her.

"I am, Daniel!" she said, somewhat exasperated. He had been adamant in keeping his secret all throughout their ride in the town car. As they had neared their destination, he had even insisted that she close her eyes to keep the surprise. "Can't you just tell me where we're going?"

He stopped her forward progress and pulled her closer, placing a kiss on her neck. "Relax, honey. Don't you trust me?"

She sighed happily into his embrace. "Yes, of course I do. Now can you please tell me why we left our families at home on Easter vacation?"

"We're almost there, just a few feet farther!" Daniel said, walking Betty forward while keeping his hands over her eyes. "Aaannd we're here!"

Betty gasped when she opened her eyes. In front of her in the streets of New York City was a white chariot being pulled by two white horses.

"Daniel!" she managed to gasp out, turning around to smack him in the arm. Ignoring his outcry of pain, she asked, "What's all this for?"

He laughed at her exuberance and pulled her close. Leaning his forehead against hers, he said softly, "It's for your birthday."

Her gaze turned curious, but her eyes betrayed her excitement. "But my birthday's not until a couple of weeks from now!"

Daniel smiled and leaned in to kiss her. She kissed him back immediately, bringing her arms around his neck to pull him closer and making him groan. Pulling back a little, he placed several quick kisses on her lips before saying, "I wanted to do something special for you." Looking a little sheepish, he added, "It's the first year we've really been together for our birthdays, and hence," he vaguely gestured toward the horses and carriage, "this."

Betty hugged him tightly and whispered, "Thank you, Daniel. I love it." She pulled back and took hold of his hand, pulling him towards the carriage. "Come on, let's go!"

As they reached the carriage, Daniel handed her in with a low, "After you, my lady," and then settled himself next to Betty. As soon as they were both comfortable, the driver started off through the New York streets.

It was a rather warm night for the beginning of April, and the city seemed to be relatively calmer because it was the day before Easter. As they rode through the streets with Daniel's arm around Betty to hold her close, she looked up at him and asked with a smile on her face, "Why did you choose a carriage ride in particular, Daniel?" Noticing his look of apprehension and knowing he was unsure if she liked his surprise or not, she kissed him lightly on the lips and quickly added, "I love it, Daniel, I really do. I was just wondering, since you know I've done this before on my birthday with Gio."

Daniel hesitated in answering. He knew it would be a risk to do this for her again, but he needed her to know that he wasn't doing it just to copy Gio. "To be honest, I had a bit of trouble thinking of a gift for you," he started sheepishly. "I wasn't sure exactly what you wanted, and then I remembered you telling me about your birthday a few years ago that wasn't really the best." Wondering how best to continue, he looked out towards the front of the carriage being illuminated in the soft streetlights. "I realized that I haven't really given you great presents over the years. I want to make up for it all, Betty." He looked down eagerly into her face, trying to gauge her reaction. "So here I am, hoping I can be forgiven for years of terrible birthday presents," he said quietly. He saw she was about to say something when he added quickly, "I'm also hoping I can make your birthday carriage ride much more memorable this time than before."

She looked touched at his words, and he wondered what was going through her head at that moment. He didn't have to wonder for long, however, because she grabbed the front of his dinner jacket and pulled him toward her for a kiss. He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her as close as he could in the carriage. Her lips were moving slowly against his, coaxing his mouth open slightly to explore his mouth. She pulled back a little, slightly breathless and with her hands still on his neck, and said softly, "I love you, Daniel. You have nothing to make up for in the past few years." She kissed him again for good measure but pulled back quickly. "I love that you wanted to make up for my birthday a few years back. Thank you so much."

He kissed her again, partly because he was so happy that she did appreciate his gift and partly because he just couldn't resist. In between kisses, he said, "At least I didn't forget this time."

He could feel her smile against his lips at that. "It's a good thing you learned your lesson," she said jokingly.

Daniel laughed at that and pulled away from her, opting instead to wrap his arm around her and pull her close. "Looks like we're almost there," he muttered, placing a light kiss on top of her head.

"What do you mean, 'almost there'?" Betty asked, looking up at him. "This isn't it?"

He smiled at the look of incredulity on her face. "I told you I wanted this to be memorable for you, didn't I? I had to add my own twist to the carriage ride."

Her face lit up at his words, and she settled back against him to enjoy the rest of the ride. Finally, the carriage came to a stop in a park close to the water. Daniel got down first and held out his hand to help her down the carriage. Holding on to her hand, he reached into the foot space where they had been seated and withdrew a picnic basket. "Thank you, Steven," he said to the driver, smiling gratefully at him.

"Anytime, Mr. Meade," Steven the Driver said happily, tipping his hat to the pair of them. "Have fun!"

As they started walking towards the river through the park, Betty tugged on Daniel's hand to get his attention and asked, unable to keep the glee out of her voice, "So, we're having a picnic?"

He nodded, his heart soaring to see her smiling so widely at him. "I thought it would be a nice way to end the night."

She stopped in the middle of the park and threw her arms around his neck. "You are full of surprises tonight, Mr. Meade," she said softly, her eyes bright with excitement.

He kissed her lightly on the lips and pulled out of her embrace to continue walking. "I hope you've enjoyed them so far," he said.

"Oh, I most definitely have," she said happily.

When they reached the water's edge, the Statue of Liberty came in to view, lit up at night. "It's beautiful!" Betty exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly.

Daniel grinned at her reaction. "Yeah, I've always loved it down here," he said, reaching into the picnic basket and pulling out a blanket. "When I was little, our nanny used to bring Alex and me here when we were supposed to be in school." He sat down on the blanket and started pulling out food wrapped in aluminum foil and tupperware containers.

Betty sat down next to him and took the food he handed her. Opening the aluminum, she exclaimed, "Burgers!"

Laughing, Daniel nodded. "Yeah, I figured no one makes burgers quite like Americans. And," he added, reaching into the basket and pulling out another aluminum-covered object, "real New York pizza!"

"Yes!" she shouted, grinning widely at him. Leaning over to kiss him quickly on the lips, she said with a sly grin, "Have I told you how much I love you lately?"

Daniel kissed her again and said quietly with a smile on his lips, "It's always nice to hear it again."

They sat mostly in silence, comfortable in each other's presence as they both devoured their food and occasionally remarked on the scenery or their vacation so far. Once they had finished their pizza and burgers, Daniel opened the tupperware container to reveal a huge slice of strawberry cheescake.

Sitting in front of the Statue of Liberty at night was magical, he had to conclude as he took a bite of the cheesecake. Just as he was about to say so to Betty, she said first, "Thank you so much for this." She looked at him, her eyes shining. "This has meant the world to me, celebrating my birthday with you in New York. I don't know how I can ever thank you."

Moving the cheesecake from its spot between them, Daniel scooted over and wrapped both of his arms around her. "I'm happy I could make your birthday special for you." He paused, hesitating to say what he wanted to next. "Betty," he started, placing his fingers under her chin to tilt her face up to his, "I love you so much. You have to know that you're it for me - you're the one." Her eyes widened at his words, and he rushed to save face. "I'm not saying I'm going to go down on bended knee right now, but I need you to know how much you mean to me and where I'm at in this relationship."

She leaned in to kiss him gently on the lips. "You're the one for me too, Daniel," she said softly, a smile playing on her lips.

His face split into a huge grin at her words, and he kissed her hard, pushing her back down onto the blanket so he was lying on top of her. He sucked on her bottom lip gently, then placed soft kisses over her mouth and jaw, making a path down to her neck. She gripped his hair tightly and pulled him away from her neck so she could kiss him again.

After several minutes of frantic making out, Daniel rolled off of her and gathered her in his arms against his side. Snuggling against him, Betty said, "Thank you, Daniel."

Placing a soft kiss on top of her head, he replied, "Happy early birthday, Betty Suarez."


End file.
